A Saiyan's Ignorance
by NerdyNebula
Summary: Vegeta's participation in the Tournament of Power has changed him. He's so bent on training to compete that he hardly gives time to or even acknowledges his family. Is ignorance bliss or is it destroying the Saiyan from the inside?


**Chapter 1**

It was the time of the Tournament of Power and Vegeta was losing. He felt unusually weak under the pressure of the Universe 9 Buu's sturdy black boot. It was a pain that he hardly felt. How many push-ups did the Universe 9 fighters do? How many sit-ups? What kind of juice did they have in their universe? These questions raced through the Saiyan's head, which was being pressed to its limit.

When the prince seemed near beaten, the Buu removed his foot from his skull. Vegeta promptly afterward coughed spurts of crimson blood onto the stone tiles of the battlefield, feeling as if he would drop over and face death.

"Come on, Vegeta! You can do this! All you have to do is get back up!" Goku cried from the sidelines. The orange-clothed Saiyan had already been eliminated in a previous round of the tourney and had become extremely motivational towards his fellow Saiyan.

Vegeta's arms, seeping red, shook as he attempted to push up his sturdy body. He couldn't manage it in his worn condition. He collapsed to the ground, limply. "I can't. I've failed everyone."

The Buu joyfully pranced around the battlefield, being warmly embraced by the other fighters from his universe. Vegeta was crumpled down on the ground, blood visible through his torn armor.

The twin Zen-Ohs looked upon the scene from their gilded thrones. The two miniature kings then stared at each other and nodded.

"Universe 7's Vegeta has been eliminated." The present Zen-Oh mused. "Universe 9's Buulan has won."

"Therefore…" The Goku Black timeline king announced. "Universe 7 has been eliminated from the Tournament of Power."

"And the universe must be destroyed." The identical Universal rulers pointed their fingers in the direction of home. As they launched finger beams, a projection of the seventh universe was displayed on several screens around the coliseum. Buulan and his teammates looked on with smiles, while the Universe 7 group had faces of terror. The terror was most apparent with Vegeta. The seventh universe erupted with explosive energy before the screen went to static.

"I- I couldn't save them." Vegeta stuttered. "Bulma- Trunks- I couldn't save them."

The prince woke up sharply in a bed at Capsule Corporation, sweat accumulating all over his body. Him losing the Tournament of Power for the entire Universe 7 had only been a dream. Dreams had never been so fear-filled for Vegeta. He was a brave and strong Saiyan and he didn't wish to be easily spooked by nightly dreams.

The Earth woman, Bulma, had already woken up, so he decided he should get out of bed as well. He quickly put on a button-up shirt and khakis and entered the main dining area, where his wife was waiting.

The Saiyan, needing his strength for the tournament, searched the cupboards for a particular protein supplement.

"Finally decided to get up today while _I_ had to take Trunks to school, aye Prince?" Bulma spoke in the direction of Vegeta.

Vegeta shrugged, not giving the blue-haired woman his full attention. He continued scavenging the cabinets, noticing a lack of something. His supplement!

"Bulma," He grunted. "Where are those protein supplements I had in the cupboards?"

"Oh, again with the supplements, I see." The human crossed her arms. "I threw them away. You need to start eating real food, Vegeta."

"You what?!" The Saiyan slammed both hands on the table. "I needed those! Otherwise, you're all going to die!"

"And I wish you'd stop listening to that hooey they tell you on the commercials! Do you even know what 'hooey' means or do I have to explain that to you?"

"Now you're calling me ignorant? Stop comparing me to Kakarot!"

The spouses' quarrel was interrupted by a small child's crying. Their blue-haired infant daughter, Bulla, didn't like when her parents fought and had her own personal method of stopping them: crying tears out of her eyes with the volume of small vehicle and the force of a faucet.

Vegeta placed his hand lightly on his daughter's, stopping the tear flow. "Great job, Bulma. You made the baby cry."

"Me?" Bulma retorted. She nearly started yet another quarrel and, by extension, another river of tears from Bulla, before stopping herself. The woman sighed. "Just eat breakfast, Vegeta." She muttered. "We're having egg rolls." Two plates clattered onto the table, each carrying a wheat-wrapped cylinder of scrambled eggs. Bulma gave Bulla a plastic bowl of eggy mush before sitting down to eat her own breakfast.

Vegeta stuffed his mouth with a slice of the wheat wrap, munching the vegetables and eggs inside to enter his bottomless pit of a stomach. "So," He mumbled, mouth still full of egg roll. "What did you bring to the table this morning?"

The blue-haired scientist perked up, negating her husband's lack of table manners. She found joy in his curiosity about whatever pending invention she decided to advertise at breakfast. "Hmm, so you're not a total grumpy pants this morning after all. This invention is not much of anything right now, but I think I'll figure it out. It's a pretty curious little gizmo-"

"Get to the point, woman!" The Saiyan growled, rolling his eyes. He leaned on his elbow and stuffed more of the wheat roll into his mouth.

Bulma rolled her eyes in response. Eye rolling was part of their (strange) way of communicating. She pulled a small remote-like object out of the lab coat she kept over her floral tee. It was hard for Vegeta to take her seriously in such a shirt.

"Voila!" She placed the remote in the middle of the table. It had a vent to allow a wave of either sound or air to flow through. To the left of this was a red button.

"Yeah, that's great. You reinvented the Earth radio." Vegeta was still unamused. "Can't wait until you copy the microwave." He picked at his breakfast with his fork.

"It's not a radio! Just watch for yourself." Bulma pushed the little button, causing a soothing change in sensation. It felt familiar to Vegeta. Bulla seemed to enjoy it, indicated by her joyful clapping of her hands, flinging the mush on her hands all over her highchair and the kitchen.

Vegeta tried to recognize the sensation. It felt like something he hadn't felt in a long time. The answer came to him with a sudden jolt around his waist. Bulma had tried to make some sort of relaxation machine. She had ended up creating a Blutz wave generator.

The Saiyan collapsed to the table in agony, rattling the plates. The Blutz waves were trying to regrow his monkey tail. Who knew that this would be so painful? Vegeta had never lost his tail prior to his encounter on Earth, so he had never felt it regrow before.

The pain around his waist became sharper. The furry stub that had once been host to his tail began growing into a longer string of brown fuzz. The Saiyan reached for the miniature generator and pushed the button to shut off the waves. His stringy tail shrank back into its stubby form. Vegeta panted heavily.

"V-Vegeta? I've never seen you react so strongly to one of my inventions before. Is this some kind of Saiyan thing?" Bulma, filled with concern, shot rapid fire questions at him.

Vegeta didn't respond. He simply grabbed the gizmo and turned away from his wife to leave the room.

"Vegeta! What are you doing?! What about breakfast?!" Bulma yelled back at him.

The Saiyan simply grunted and swiped his egg roll from the table, leaving again. He knew exactly what he could do with the contraption and involved winning the tournament.


End file.
